Freezing Rain Sunday Night Will Lead To Icy Conditions Across Western & Central Mass

For Tonight: Clear skies can be expected throughout tonight with low temperatures between 10 and 15 Degrees. Winds will be West at 6 to 12 mph.

Sunday: A sunny start to the day can be expected on Sunday, however, clouds will be on the increase during the afternoon hours as a low pressure system approaches us from the Great Lakes.

High temperatures will be between 35 and 40 Degrees. Winds will be West at 6 to 12 mph.

Freezing Rain Is Expected On Sunday Night Which Will Change To All Rain During The Day On Monday: An area of low pressure is expected to track across the Great Lakes region during the day on Sunday before it moves across southern Canada on Sunday night and Monday. This storm system has the potential of producing freezing rain with icy conditions during Sunday night, especially if cold air can hang on across the region. Any freezing rain will change to rain during the day on Monday as temperatures rise to above freezing.

Freezing rain is expected to overspread the entire area between about 8 pm and 10 pm Sunday evening. This freezing rain is expected to continue for quite a few hours during the overnight hours of Sunday night. This freezing rain is likely to produce some icy conditions across the entire area, especially on untreated surfaces. My recommendation to you is to avoid travel on Sunday night, if you can as things will very likely be very slippery. If you have to travel on Sunday night, use extreme caution.

One thing that I wanted to mention about Sunday night’s freezing rain event – My past experience is that when you have a fresh snow cover on the ground this time of year (like we do now) in the middle of the night, the freezing rain is very likely to hang on much longer than usual. Because of this, I don’t think that we’ll flip to just rain until sometime on Monday morning. Because of this, I do think that ice amounts of one tenth of an inch (0.10”) to one quarter of an inch (0.25”) seems most probable. Not enough to bring down trees or power lines, but it is certainly enough to produce some very icy conditions.

The freezing rain will change to rain during Monday morning from south to north across the region. The last areas that will change from freezing rain to rain may be across the northern Worcester Hills and parts of the Connecticut River Valley where the freezing rain may wait to change to rain until late Monday morning. Periods of rain is then expected during Monday afternoon across the entire area as temperatures rise into the mid and upper 40s.

Once that storm moves towards Atlantic Canada on Monday night and Tuesday, it’ll pull down some cold air on some gusty west and northwest winds. Windy and cold weather is expected for both Monday night and Tuesday. Low temperatures Monday night will be around 20 Degrees. High temperatures Tuesday will be between 25 and 30 Degrees. West to Northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 40-45 mph can be expected throughout Monday night and Tuesday.